The Battlefable Chronicles 3: Storm of Chaos
by Brother Andyn
Summary: The Battlefable Chronicles: Tales of bloodshed and war between armies of Light and Darkness.


Being the third part of:

The Battlefable Chronicles _Scribed by Brother Andyn_

The Relic

Lord Blackmetal, leading the Devils of Dusk, arrived in the sacked port of Erengrad at twilight. Making an alliance with Zarechgor, Lord of Change, his army - the Devils of Dusk, assisted the hordes of Tzeentch to crush the alliance of High Elves from the fleet of Lord Aislinn, and Hand of the Old Ones, commanded by the Saurus Oldblood Rolk Gar. Prince Telion was defeated in hand-to-hand combat by Blackmetal, a powerful talisman slipping from his neck as he fled. Blackmetal was quick to snatch up such an item, realising it could prove valuable in the assault on the Empire. The 'Relic,' as it is known, is an ancient artefact of elven origin, and had been passed down through Prince Telion's house for generations. Now it was in the possession of Chaos.  
As the survivors of Hand of the Old Ones retreated from the city, Lord Blackmetal swore his allegiance to the Everchosen, as his master, Arawyn of Ahnvyn, had requested. The Devils would march south, to join Archaon's Horde.

The Duel

His army shattered, the alliance with the Lizardmen broken, Prince Telion of the High Elves fled south. Linking up with the Imperial forces in Ferlangen, Telion brought word of the Devils' coming. When the Devils of Dusk did arrive, to engage in brutal warfare against the defenders, Lord Blackmetal spotted the High Elf prince and challenged him. He clutched the Relic in one hand, mocking its one time owner. A fierce and desperate battle ensued, in which the Chaos Lord was wounded. But the head of Telion was struck from his shoulders and soon the defences of Ferlangen weakened under the Chaos onslaught.

Mannfeld

Kurt Mannfeld was once an Arch-Lector of the cult of Sigmar. At the Battle of the Monoliths his army of Kislevites, Dwarfs and Imperial troops was crushed by the Swords of Chaos, his captains hacked down around him and he himself was turned from the path of Light. Now a Champion of the Swords of Chaos, the heart of Archaon's Horde, a fanatical follower of Archaon and a dark-souled man who has embraced the Path of Damnation, he has been dispatched by the Everchosen to retrieve the Relic from Lord Blackmetal, at Ferlangen...

Vanguard

From the shattered ruins of Ferlangen, Kurt Mannfeld led the vanguard of the Devils of Dusk into the foothills of the Middle Mountains. Intercepted by an Imperial force led by Captain Robert Von Johnus, a fierce and hard-fought combat followed between the two commanders, as their armies battled around them. The Chaos Champion emerged victorious, spearing the heart of the Empire man and eventually cutting down his guard of Inner Circle Knights. Their First Knight put up a valiant last stand, but was broken by Mannfeld. When the remainder of the Devils' army arrived, the Empire troops fled, and the Chaos warband set up camp outside Nordbergbruche.

The Hawk and the Wolf

Shorngaar, Beastman Shaman and leader of his tribe, met with Kurt Mannfeld and the vanguard of the Devils of Dusk in the shadow of a valley just north of Nordbergbruche. It was here that a pact was forged, a dark friendship between the two chaos warbands. Arrayed against them was an alliance, of men and elves, striking out from the city to stem the tide of evil. Like a hawk the defenders struck, swift and deadly, unhorsing Chaos knights, felling warhounds and rendering chariots useless in a hail of accurately propelled missile fire. But when on the ground, the hawk is vulnerable.

The Empire soldiers and heavily armoured knights put up a staunch defence, the elves making a fighting retreat, but it was to no avail. Like a vicious wolf from hell, the armies of darkness swarmed across the field, tearing at the defenders with fangs, claws and brutal weapons, hacking down all who dared to stand against them. Johnathon Van Sorthe was cut down as he fled, Fyndor and his archers slain by thundering hooves. The Imperial lines were overwhelmed by hordes of beasts and the day was lost.

The Devils, it seemed, grew stronger.

Fame Despoiled

It was at the small, copper-mining town of Esk that the famous Carroburg Greatswords were shamed. Led by Commander Richard von Carren, an army of Imperial troops from Carroburg marched to the front lines of the campaign, to be reinforcements against the tide of darkness engulfing the northern reaches of the Empire. Baptised in blood fighting a savage, civil war with the army of Middenland in 1865 at the Siege of Carroburg, the army of scarlet soldiers forged an uneasy alliance with Middenland, to combat Archaon's Horde.

This friendship was quickly shattered when the vermilion host encountered stiff resistance on the borders of the township. The infamous Devils of Dusk, led by the charismatic Lord Blackmetal, crushed it without mercy and no less than 3 Carroburg standards were captured by the enemy. Captain Reinmar Borstadt was brutally beheaded by Lord Blackmetal and a message was sent back to the Empire command, that his skull now adorned the Chaos Lord's trophy rack.

Richard von Carren blamed the disaster on Boris Todbringer, cursing the Count's orders and retreating, with the remnants of the Carroburg force, back to Reikland and away from the conflict. They would join the grand alliance of men, elves and dwarves, and would only assist in the defence of Middenheim under the banner of Karl Franz himself. An honour befitting the Carroburg Greatswords regiment indeed.

Hand of Blood

Having fled from the ruins of Erengrad with the remains of his force, Rolk Gar, Saurus Old Blood and leader of Hand of the Old Ones, rallied at the city of Krudenwald. A lair of adventurers, sellswords, slayers and vagabonds, the place was gearing up for war when the Slaughterers of Haargroth advanced. In the vanguard of the army marched the Devils of Dusk, intent on making a bigger impression here than they did in the mining town of Esk. Allied with the Empire forces, Hand of the Old Ones prepared to face their former rivals, swearing vengeance in the name of their reptilian gods.

The Lizardmen stood fast against the Khornate army, but after the first blood was spilt, the tide turned. The blood of men mingled with the blood of lizards, staining the earth as skulls were claimed for the God of War. Rolk Gar himself was bested in combat by his nemesis Lord Blackmetal, but escaped death with a fearsome scar.

Many Saurus Cold One riders were viciously hacked down by overwhelming numbers of Chaos Warriors. Hooves of Iron thundered down over the hated Skink Priest, crushing his body like an armoured fist upon a Bretonnian grape. As the banner of the Saurus Cavalry was snatched up and waved in mockery, huge Kroxigor were butchered and hamstrung. A Hand of Blood closed around the Lizardman forces, its vermilion claws flickering in an orgy of gore-spattered blood-letting. As the fangs of Khorne tightened around their prey, the Saurus and Skink survivors slipped back towards Krudenwald.

A roar of triumph echoed across the corpse-strewn battlefield.

'Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Throne of Khorne!'

And now…the conclusion

After Archaon was defeated the Chaos armies were driven off by the Defenders of Middenheim. The Empire is in flames but the various surviving chaos warbands were scattered and divided, either retreating back to the Chaos Wastes, fleeing deeper into the Empire or regrouping in the shattered ruins of Brass Keep. Here, in the Middle Mountains, Lord Blackmetal gathered the remnants of the Devils of Dusk. The plan was to march east and make an alliance with the Dawi Zharr but barely enough warriors remained in the army. It wasn't long before the Tzeentch warband led by the Daemon Prince Garathor crushed the Devils of Dusk in a dispute over battle spoils. Lord Blackmetal himself was plucked from the mortal plane and whisked off to the Realm of Chaos, the result of one of Garathor's Tzeentchian spells. His fate is yet unknown.

And so ends the saga of the Devils of Dusk, and part three of The Battlefable Chronicles.


End file.
